Matuas celebrate in West Bengal; Mamata questions timing

There were celebrations among a section of the Matua community in West Bengal when the Union government notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, on Monday even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned of fierce opposition if the rules are found to be discriminatory against groups of people living in India.

There were celebrations at Thakurbari, the headquarters of All India Matua Mahasangha, at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas.

Many in the Matua sect — a community comprising Hindu Namasudras — had migrated from Bangladesh (earlier East Pakistan). They had been demanding that the rules on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act passed in 2019 be framed at the earliest.

The new rules allow any person eligible under CAA2019 to apply for Indian citizenship. As per the new rules, those eligible can file applications under Section 6B of the CAA2019 through an online portal.

The CAA passed in 2019 grants citizenship to persecuted nonMuslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

The notification by the Centre also comes on March 11, which is the birth anniversary of Harichand Thakur, one of the founders of the Matua sect who was born in 1812 at Orakandi, now in Bangladesh.

‘BJP kept a promise’

Welcoming the development, BJP State president Sukanata Majumdar said none had a problem with the rules except Ms. Banerjee who had lost her sleep over the development. “Union Home Minister Amit Shah had already said that we will put forward the rules and regulations of the CAA before the Lok Sabha election and we do whatever we say,” he said.

The Chief Minister, who spoke hours before the rules were made public, questioned the timing of the notification ahead of the Lok Sabha poll. “Why do this only days before the Lok Sabha poll is scheduled to be announced? Why did the Centre have to wait for four years to notify the law after it was passed in Parliament?,” she asked. She went on to emphasise that she will not allow “any detention camps or NRC (National Register of Citizens)” in the State.